Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their statements. The arts and culture sector will probably be one of the last to reopen and it has faced a number of challenges, like many other sectors. Some of the supports the sector is receiving were outlined by Ms Licken in her opening remarks. I would like to focus on the arts and crafts and cultural sectors and what supports there will be for them. I welcome the confirmation from Ms Licken of the €20 million allocated to the Arts Council, as requested by the National Campaign for the Arts, NCAF, and that recommendations have been achieved. Could she expand on what is being done in that sphere?

Ms Banotti mentioned the work and creativity of the local authorities. The work done by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, of which I was a member, on libraries and creativity in the arts was innovative. We need to see more of it and the support will be welcome. Ms Banotti stated there was funding for care homes. Will the social day care centre be included in that, if and when it is up and running? There are different settings for older people who need entertainment or require a change in their day-to-day living, and the arts are a very important aspect of that. Ms Banotti might expand on that.

I turn to Ms Licken in respect of the production and performance arts sectors. As far as I am aware, there is no clear pathway for those sectors and they are worried as of today. While the funding through the Arts Council is welcome, more clarity needs to be given to those in that sector. The crafts sector, which I mentioned earlier, also seems to have been forgotten about.

Much work has gone into Creative Ireland and the funding has been welcome. It is great that it has been repurposed so quickly but, again, there may be some questions as to how that funding will be rolled out.

On the actions recommended by the NCAF, Mr. Falvey stated the officials were analysing the reports from the Arts Council expert advisory group on the NCAF and that some recommendations have been achieved. Will he elaborate on that?

Mr. Kelly mentioned the tourism recovery task force in his opening remarks. He might comment on the implementation of the plan. Much of the discussion, even this morning on national radio, has been about holidaying at home, rightly so, and the supports for the domestic tourism sector. I welcome the advertising campaign and the quick response to the need to encourage staycations. Will Mr. Kelly expand on the capacity in the system? Summer has been truncated a little into just July and August in Ireland, and there will be challenges with accommodating everybody who wishes to stay at home this summer.

On the question on the NCFA, the expert advisory group from the Arts Council and the recommendations, a key recommendation was the funding of €20 million. We were in a position to provide that immediately. That has been a really important immediate response.

Let me take the Deputy through some of what the Arts Council has been doing for the arts and arts organisations. The funding, including the new funding, will be aimed at the organisations and venues that support artists to give them a sustainable future and it will also be aimed at bursaries, commissioning and digital online content. That is just a snapshot. Mr. Falvey can elaborate further on it.

Regarding production and performance, we are critically aware that the ideas of performance and performance spaces are particularly challenging owing to social distancing. Therefore, it is not just a matter of whether one can reopen but whether one can reopen safely. Over the past two or three months, we have had a lot of engagement with all in the sector on all the challenges it faces. Setting up a task force to deal with the whole culture sector, as outlined in the programme for Government, will be a key part of helping to address the issues that arise. Mr. Falvey might want to elaborate on this.